Music and the sociological gaze: art worlds and cultural production

In this important new book, Peter J. Martin explores the interface between musicological and sociological approaches to the analysis of music, and in doing so reveals the differing foundations of cultural studies and sociological perspectives more generally. Building on the arguments of his earlier book Sounds and society, Dr Martin initially contrasts text-based attempts to develop a ?social? analysis of music with sociological studies of musical activities in real cultural and institutional contexts. It is argued that the difficulties encountered by some of the ?new? musicologists in their e

'Music and the Sociological Gaze' illustrates how sociological ideas can make a distinct contribution to understanding music and examines the relationship between music and class cultures the social organisation of musical improvisation, music as a cultural object, and music in everyday situations